[Archived] News Article -> 2012/13 Full-Time: Rovers 1 Ipswich Town 0

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Rovers have beaten Ipswich 1-0 at Ewood Park to pick up a valuable three points and move back into the top 10 in the Championship. Neither side played well in the first half, but Rovers bossed the second period and picked up the win thanks to an own goal from the Ipswich keeper. Jordan Rhodes missed a host of half-chances to put the game beyond doubt, but the Scottish international saw his league scoring run come to an end.

The first half was uneventful and uninspired. Both sides lacked quality and failed to create chances and the one saving grace was that all 22 players appeared to be committed to the match and willing to put in challenges. Ipswich failed to convert the best chance of the half after Pedersen's mistake had gifted them an opening, but, in truth, neither side deserved a goal. The challenges were flying in thick and fast as the match descended into a scrappy midfield battle and Jordan Rhodes was on the wrong end of a challenge that saw the striker require some medical treatment following a blow to the face.

The second half started much as the first had ended, although Rovers gradually began to increase the tempo. DJ Campbell was brought on for his Rovers debut, replacing Morten Gamst Pedersen and the substitution saw a change in shape that improved Rovers' play. Kazim-Richards dropped back into midfield and Rovers were able to apply more pressure with Rhodes and Campbell playing up front together. The home side took the lead 20 minutes into the second half when Ipswich failed to clear Hanley's shot and the ball clipped off Henderson's back leg before going into the goal. Jordan Rhodes peeled away to claim the goal, but there can be little doubt that it had gone in off the goalkeeper.

The Scottish international then missed a good chance to double the lead when he headed Martin Olsson's cross a yard wide of the Ipswich goal. Rhodes had another chance to put the match to bed, but Henderson made a good stop to keep his side in the game and then headed wide from the subsequent corner. All three were decent chances and, by his standard, you would have expected him to have taken at least one and the striker will be disappointed that he was unable to grab his 20th goal for Rovers and keep his scoring streak going when he was only one game away from matching the club record. Ipswich nearly equalised when N'Daw's effort from the edge of the area went narrowly wide, with Kean nowhere near to it. In the end that was Ipswich's best effort of the game and Rovers deserved to pick up the win and a crucial three points.

The win sees Rovers move all the way up to 7th, although that may change over the weekend, and they are now only 4 points off the play-off places, with a game in hand on one or two of the sides above them. More pleasingly, it was Rovers' third consecutive clean sheet and, after this recent run, they can now consider themselves to be very much alive in the hunt for play-off places.

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